CPU Advise

[Griffinix]

So I have been planning to upgrade my build for two years or so now and have delayed due to constant rumours of another generation. Initially I was going to go straight for the 8700k when it was around the £300 mark, that however has now gone and is not likely to come back down any time soon unless I buy one used. Choice wise I am stuck between choosing the 2700x, the 9600k or just getting the 8700k at it's higher cost.

My main PC use is gaming, browsing, watching videos and coding however I do plan on getting involved in modding games, possibly editing textures and videos and thus am unsure what to choose. GPU waiting to go in system is the 1080ti and I plan on getting a 1440p screen which I know means GPU is more important regarding games.

Any advice would be great thanks!

[kalniel]

I've not looked at latest CPUs in the greatest detail, but my inclination would be to say that if content creation is key then the 2700X would be the best choice of the lot. I've got a fairly similar use case and I've always found that going wide was a good solution for longevity.

[Zak33]

I've not looked at latest CPUs in the greatest detail, but my inclination would be to say that if content creation is key then the 2700X would be the best choice of the lot. I've got a fairly similar use case and I've always found that going wide was a good solution for longevity.

this is spot on

For the best allrounder, with massive multitasking, video encoding, and gaming... Ryzen 8 core 16 thread

[Jonj1611]

I would also say Ryzen, I have the 1700X and it does everything I need. Games playing is no different from my i7-4790k, rendering in Vue and Cinema 4D is far better. It will handle pretty much anything thrown at it.

[MrJim]

If you're gaming at 1440p or higher, you're pretty much guaranteed to be GPU limited. The differences in framerate between a 2700X or 8700K will be very small indeed. I'd definitely go with the AMD option, and put the difference into a better GPU and / or RAM.

[Zak33]

I would also say Ryzen, I have the 1700X and it does everything I need. Games playing is no different from my i7-4790k, rendering in Vue and Cinema 4D is far better. It will handle pretty much anything thrown at it.

this too.

I have a 1700 (not the X) because it's very low power use and therefore very very cool

was also good value.

[Griffinix]

Thanks for the replies.

Indeed for the option of "possibly" doing all the additional tasks I am thinking of the Ryzen is very tempting. Also what is tempting is the sound of the new AMD CPU's coming out next year while still using the AM4 chipset. Always leaned towards intel and Nvidia so I am a little bit uneasy lol.

I guess we all have our little bias in some way.

[outwar6010]

Another vote for the ryzen option.

[deejayburnout]

Go Ryzen and invest in a good Enthusiast board. You will be able to update the bios to suit any new chip when they come out.

AMD are supporting the AM4 socket for at least another 2 to 3 years ( not like intel and there yearly changes ) that way when Zen2 comes out, you can update the bios and pop in a new chip and away you go.

Recommend the 2600 like i have at the moment as it can be overclocked to the 2600x speed and is right now best bang for your buck.

[r86x]

I'd go Ryzen if buying new right now as Intel prices have crept up. I did however just upgrade to intel as there's some cheap z370 boards on ebay and if you're quick CEX has decent prices for 2nd hand CPUs. Worked out at £90 for z370i Strix and an 8700k for £240.

[Griffinix]

Right well I am seriously considering either the 2700x or 2600x. Just saw the 9700k hitting pretty much MSRP on scan but is still quite a premium. I will be getting an after market cooler.

Big thing I care about is making sure I have the versatility. While I may not actually do much content creation, it is a path I am interested in.

Ryzen does better on cl14 memory though right and is a fair bit more expensive than cl16.

[kalniel]

Ryzen does better on cl14 memory though right and is a fair bit more expensive than cl16.

Not worth it - if 16 is quite a lot cheaper then stay with that.

[wilko]

Amen on the Ryzen front.

[Griffinix]

Sorry to bother everyone again.

So if I get the likes of a high tier motherboard say (ASUS Crosshair VII Hero) and a 2600x (because most of what I do at the moment is gaming with little multitasking). Then potentially upgrade to a Zen 2 CPU when they release and hopefully have better single thread performance sound like a plan? I do still play older titles that can only use two cores on my i5 4670k overclocked to 4.2Ghz so wouldn't the Ryzen CPU's have the same performance problems on those games?

[Jonj1611]

I have a 1700X and I have never seen any difference between games I played on this processor and games I play on my i7-4790k. Whether single core or multiple

[Goldenalexander]

I'm in the same boat as the Op and can't decide which cpu to go for I want to upgrade my wife's gaming rig. At the minute she's still running an amd fx 8350 and I'm currently leaning towards a 9600k as it's purely for gaming and watching movies.

I do like AMD but am not sure Ryzen will give me any benefits while only being used as a gaming system and media player.